


I Am Happy Living Simply

by skyfireflies



Series: Recovery/Rebirth [2]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: First Love, Growing Up, Intimacy, Introspection, M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-18
Updated: 2012-07-18
Packaged: 2017-11-10 05:09:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/462535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyfireflies/pseuds/skyfireflies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You've never been happier than you are now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Am Happy Living Simply

**Author's Note:**

  * For [andreaphobia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andreaphobia/gifts).



Life goes on, almost as if it were normal. You’ve gotten used to your handicap by now, it’s been months since the incident. Sometimes you’ll still try and do things like you used to, when your legs worked, but your therapist tells you that’s incredibly normal. That you’ll probably always have that problem. It’s really not a big deal, though, even if it does hurt a little to think about. 

You don’t play baseball much anymore, but Tsuna and the others thought it would be a good idea if you still tried to play a sport, so you’ve started playing basketball. It’s a little hard, but it’s something to do, and Reborn kind of makes it into a game for all the Guardians (well, minus Hibari and Chrome and Mukuro). Sometimes, Haru plays too. You may be wheelchair-bound, but you’re still athletic enough in your upper body to win for your team every time. 

Sometimes you’re almost sure you see a flash of pride in the kid’s eyes as he watches you, and that’s enough to keep you going. If it weren’t, then that shiver down your spine from eyes you can sense but can’t see would be more than enough, anyway. 

Hibari watches you a lot, now. More than he used to. Even if you can’t see him, you can always tell he’s there. You both know this. Once, you even joked that Hibari was kinda like your guardian angel, and Hibari had bit you so hard on the shoulder he drew blood. It’s funny, Hibari’s been visiting you a lot. And not just by climbing in your window, either. Once your dad found out about him, Hibari started showing up at Takezushi regularly. He sits in the corner, avoiding the crowds, and your dad has started giving him a discount on everything. 

The old man had been pretty surprised that first morning, when he opened your door to check on you and found Hibari curled up into your side like a cat. You’d been awake, and watched him walk back out of the room without a word. He didn’t come back for awhile, long enough that Hibari had woken up and left out the window the way he’d came in. When your dad came back, he sat down on bed beside you and ruffled your hair. ‘I always wondered when you were going to finally get a girlfriend,’ he’d said, grinning, ‘but somehow he seems to suit you better.’

Now, it’s practically like Hibari’s part of the family in some strange way. He doesn’t do anything -normal-, really, like come over to watch TV with you and your dad, or have dinner with the two of you, but he’s around enough that he’s become something of a permanent fixture. There are days he doesn’t speak at all, just follows you like a shadow. Watches you as you do your arm exercises, sits quietly on a stool beside the bathtub as you wash. Like he’s waiting for something to happen, waiting for your weakness to show through, and when it does he wants to watch you overcome it. 

He doesn’t stay the night often, but he does visit you before you sleep pretty much every night. You figure if this were a normal relationship, he’d just text or call, but Hibari doesn’t like phones and you’re glad. You like this better anyway. Sometimes he’ll drop by, right as you’re drifting off to sleep, and sit beside you for awhile, watching. When you wake up, you have trouble figuring out if it was only a dream. Then you laugh, because of course it’s not. Hibari’s just weird like that. 

On the rare occasion that Hibari can’t be near you, for some reason or other, Hibird is your constant companion. The little bird knows your name by now, trills it out happily as it circles you and then makes itself comfortable on top of your head. Then it sings the school anthem and you laugh, loud and happy, because even if Hibari isn’t there, it’s still like he is. 

 

 

You can’t really use your swords anymore, but you’re still considered a Vongola Guardian. Once you’d gotten readjusted to life outside the hospital, Reborn had pulled you aside one day at school to talk to you about options. You’d had a sinking feeling in your gut that he was going to tell you to give your ring back, that you weren’t suitable to protect Tsuna anymore, but the kid’s always been fond of you and that hasn’t changed. 

Three days a week, he takes you out where there won’t be any prying eyes, puts a gun in your hand, and teaches you how to shoot. You’ve gotten pretty good at it by now, you can manage two at a time and still hit every target. There’s a look of satisfaction in Reborn’s eyes that tells you he’d known this was going to happen, that this is something you’re suited to. He nods, a smirk on his face, and hops up onto your shoulder with a ‘Good job’. 

The fact that he’s still sitting on your shoulder like this, even though you’re not the tallest person in the group anymore, always makes you smile. 

Tsuna is, admittedly, less than happy to learn about your newfound kinship with guns. It doesn’t matter though, in the end, because he’s just relieved that you’re still his friend, still the person he can rely on for a smile and a laugh, and that’s more important than anything. You’re a lot of things for a lot of people, even now, and you figure you always will be. There’s only one person you don’t need to be anything for.

That person watches, leaning against a tree, as you learn marksmanship. Reborn doesn’t say anything, just looks curious the first time, and then lets it be. Hibari never says a word, just watches you with sharp, approving eyes. _Yes,_ those eyes say, _you are still strong._ And that’s enough to make you give it your all. 

Your life may not be exactly how it was before, but you grow. You adapt. You keep your head up despite any adversity, and for the things you can no longer do yourself, you find ways to work around it. You find new things to make up for those things you lost. You’re not sad, or depressed, because why should you be? You’re -alive-, and that’s the most important thing. You’re still young, and there’s still so many things you want to accomplish in life. Sure, maybe you can’t be that pro baseball player you’d always dreamed of anymore. But it doesn’t matter. 

Once, you’d have killed yourself over something like this. What a waste. What an idiot your past self was, not seeing the long-term. If you could, you’d go back in time and tell him just how stupid he was. You’d have never known so many things. True friendship, true strength. 

What it’s like to love someone with your entire being, and be loved in return. 

 

 

Hibari’s tongue is tracing its way up your chest, slow and lazy, and your hand is down the front of his trousers, your fingers wrapped around him, stroking him slow and lazy. His breath hitches with one particular movement, and you smirk, and he lifts his head up and shifts, biting roughly at your lips. You can do this much for him, and -god-, you wish you could do more. This, though, is enough. To be able to touch him like this, to make him feel good, it makes you feel good, too. 

You love the way his body goes taut, the way his eyelids flutter, as you stroke him to orgasm. You love how he drapes himself over you afterward, his teeth lazily grazing along the skin of your neck, his tongue dipping into the marks like a cat lapping up milk. You love bringing your hand from Hibari’s cock up to your mouth, licking up the sticky mess coating it, and the look on Hibari’s face as he watches you, heated and aroused. 

When it’s just the two of you like this, everything in the world seems perfect. Sure, it’s not conventional -- but what is, in your life (or Hibari’s, for that matter)? You don’t talk about your relationship, you aren’t “boyfriends”, or whatever. All that matters is this. There doesn’t need to be a word for it, no over-used term to describe the two of you and what you have. Hibari would just scoff, and you, well. You don’t need sappy, romantic confessions of undying love and devotion. 

All you need is this.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments/Kudos much appreciated!


End file.
